Links and short notes, 2025-01-20

New magazines and podcasts, the printing press and the Internet, the ultimate form of travel, grand plans for San Francisco, an AI tutor for Nigeria, and more

Much of this content originated on social media. To follow news and announcements in a more timely fashion, follow me on Twitter, Threads, Bluesky, or Farcaster.

Contents

• My writing (ICYMI)

• Jobs and fellowships

• Announcements

• News

• Events

• Other opportunities

• We are not close to providing for everyone’s “needs”

• The printing press and the Internet

• The ultimate form of travel

• Five hot takes about progress

• What could have been, for SF

• Quick thoughts on AI

• Links and bullets

• Charts

• Pics

My writing (ICYMI)

• How sci-fi can have drama without dystopia or doomerism. “Concise but incredible resource” (@OlliPayne). “100 percent with Jason on this. If your sci-fi has technology as the problem it will put me to sleep” (@elidourado)

Jobs and fellowships

• HumanProgress.org is hiring a research associate with Excel/Python/SQL skills “to manage and expand our database on human well-being” (@HumanProgress)

• The 5050 program comes to the UK “to help great scientists and engineers become great founders and start deep tech startups,” in partnership with ARIA (@sethbannon)

Announcements

• Core Memory, a new sci/tech media company from Ashlee Vance (@ashleevance)

• “AI Summer”, a new podcast from Dean Ball (RPI fellow) and Timothy B. Lee (@deanwball)

• Inference Magazine, a new publication on AI progress, with articles from writers including RPI fellow Duncan McClements (@inferencemag)

News

• Matt Clifford has published an AI Opportunities Action Plan for the UK, and the PM has agreed to all its recommendations, including “AI Growth Zones” with faster planning permission and grid connections; accelerating SMRs to power AI infrastructure; procurement, visas & regulatory reform to boost UK AI startups; and removing barriers to scaling AI pilots in government (@matthewclifford)

• The Manhattan Plan: NYC plans “to build 100,000 new homes in the next decade to reach a total of 1 MILLION homes in Manhattan” (@NYCMayor). “We’ve come a long way on housing,” says @danielgolliher

Events

• Boom XB-1 first supersonic flight might be as soon as Jan 27, with livestream on X (@bscholl). After two supersonic tests, “we are all in on the big jet” (@bscholl)

Other opportunities

• Dynomight is offering general mentoring (@dynomight7)

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